Despite the plummeting
fortunes of domestic airlines in the country due to the harsh economy, they
will have to pay up their debts worth more than N30 billion or be grounded by
regulatory agencies.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority (NCAA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian
Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) are going after airlines to recover over N30
billion debts accumulated in the last 16 years.
The Guardian learnt that the
renewed debt recovery, following a directive from the Federal Government, will
involve the deployment of all means possible to succeed, including grounding
some airlines that have not embraced the option of a peaceful resolution.
The debts were incurred from
sundry services offered to commercial and chartered airlines operating on
government-owned and private aerodromes.Sources disclosed that one of the most
popular airlines in the country is indebted to FAAN to the tune of
N12.5billion, and would soon be shut out of some routes. NAMA confirmed the development,
estimating that N8.08 billion debt liabilities are to be reclaimed from airline
operators and private and some state-owned airports.
A document shown to The
Guardian revealed that domestic operators collectively owe NAMA N3.89 billion
between 2001 and 2013. While that is still unpaid, the domestic airlines have
also accrued N1.6 billion from January 2014 to June 2016. Some airlines that
are already defunct are owing NAMA N1.048 billion, while private and
state-owned aerodromes owe N1.54 billion.
A member of NAMA special
committee on debt recovery said the agency was under enormous pressure to meet
the Federal Government’s revenue target, coupled with an in-house liability
burden, which the agency has to meet, especially on pension. Pension outstanding
in the agency is in the tune of N18 billion, it was learnt.
The director, who spoke on
the condition of anonymity, said: “The government of the day has a lot of
expectations from ministries, departments and agencies, and you either deliver
or you are out.
“The Federal Government has
directed that 25 per cent of revenue should be remitted to government’s
account. We are left with no option than to re-strategise and go all out to
recover all outstanding debts. They (airline operators) are our customers and
we respect them, but times are different and debts must be recovered using all
means under the law.”
Feelers from the aviation
sector suggest that “the big stick measure and pay-as-you-go” regime will
worsen the plight of domestic airlines that are already gasping for breath
amidst huge debts to banks, foreign exchange hike, unpaid salaries, low
patronage and fuel shortage.
The Chairman of the Airline
Operators of Nigeria (AON), Capt. Nogie Meggison, appealed for the Federal
Government’s intervention in the aviation fuel crisis and multiple charges,
saying the local airlines were more at risk of folding up.
With a litre of aviation
fuel now sold for N220-plus, more than 40 per cent of the airlines’ operation
cost goes into fuel.“It is very sad to note that despite all these burdens on
the shoulders of the Nigerian airlines, they are still expected by the Federal
Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to pay taxes out of their losses. Multiple and
excessive taxation from the NCAA, FAAN and NAMA is making it more expensive to
run an airline in Nigeria,” he said.
A top official in NAMA,
however, denied the allegation of multiple charges and an alleged plan by
government agencies to regulate airlines to extinction.
“It will interest you to
know that some of these people have for several years been cutting corners and
using friends in authorities to evade paying dues. But the current government
said there is no room for such things.”
“The issue of multiple
charges has been resolved since the time of Chidoka. More so, we have not
increased our charges. We are not convinced that the sector is as bad as
bandied about. Within this debt recovery exercise, we have one domestic airline
that has fully cleared its debt,” he said.
Credit: Guardian Reports
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